#babalu

👻 As I think I've mentioned before, it's not that hard to make me cry, and this episode of @storiesfromylelmore did it right at the end. I think it was the juxtaposition of the very normal episode starring children solving a local mystery and the extremely kind thing that they ended on, thanking the ghost of the haunted house. Like, it was a small gesture and maybe it didn't do anything, but...how sweet. I love these kids.

📼 I THOUGHT IT WAS DEAD BUT IT'S BACK! Babalu is a slice-of-life story about knowing who you are through a person who barely knew you. Our titular hero finds a bunch of tapes with her mother's voice on them, who died when she was still very small. It's a subtle kind of story, with a sort of creeping dread built of knowing something terrible happened here, and also watching Lu go on dates with...crypto bros. *shudder.* The world of this story feels very lived-in, and I can't wait to see how it builds.

🪐 This week @iriscasefiles had the audacity to end. Can you believe? What a show. I said this in the tags on another post, but I think Starship Iris was the first show I listened to that showed me what audio drama could really be--artful, clever, incredibly written, but also incredible representation, an outlet for the writer's linguistic interests, a story that's made me cry and yell out loud and sing along. Whenever someone complains about Firefly, I tell them to listen to Starship Iris. It's better in every way. This last season has been an incredible encouragement to me, and in this last episode, hearing Arkady Patel (of all people) toast to keeping the faith brought me to my knees. I always will. Thanks, Jess Best. This is one of the greats.

🫥 I was so lucky to be able to work on a show that premiered this week, a horror story from Andas Productions (Temujin's team!) called catskull, based on the novel of the same name. It's hard to describe catskull, because yes, it is a story about a teenager fighting against the evil in the world and in himself with a mask and a baseball bat, and yes, it's horror, and yes, it's not going to end well--but it's so much more than that. It's not for the faint of heart--they hired me to write the content warnings and there are a lot of them--but it's so worth the listen. I love this show, I'm so happy I got to work on it.

💀 HEY YOU. YEAH YOU. Look, if The Holmwood Foundation doesn't meet their goal and make season two, I will perish. I will simply pass away. I need it like I need vitamin D. (D stands for Dracula.) If you can support them, please do! I'm doing my part!

Dan Henderson vs Renato Sobral 2 - Strikeforce: St. Louis

Another throwback, this time featuring arguably MMA’s scariest puncher ever Dan Henderson.

In 2010, Hendo is already a legend of the sport tho his biggest win was arguably still to come. He was a former Pride FC welterweight and middleweight champion, beating the likes of Wanderlei Silva, Murilo Bustamante, Kazuo Misaki, Ninja Rua, etc as well as a successful tour in the UFC where he challenged for LHW and MW gold. He came up short but left the promotion on a 3 fight win streak, beating Michael Bisping, Rich Franklin, and Rousimar Palhares. He’d head over to Strikeforce where he challenged for MW gold but lost to Jake Shields. Hendo took it as a sign to move up to 205lbs and was given a title elimination bout with old foe - Renato Sobral aka Babalu.

I dare say her version of Babalu is better than Desi’s.

Epa!

🥀 Oh man, Within the Wires bringing the dread from all sides. Political upheaval, plague, and these creepy-ass flowers. I don’t know if the show plans to explain why the flowers point toward bodies, living or dead, but as a scientist I hope they do. I also can’t wait for answers to all these questions. Bet they’re gonna be worse than we think!

🐺 The deftness with which @storiesfromylelmore handles emotionally sticky issues—without ever forgetting that its protagonists are pre-teens—is exceptional. Here we have unintentional harm done by a kid whose turmoil is mostly internal, harm that can’t really be fixed except by being aware of it and trying harder next time. And that doesn’t sound like a fun kids show adventure, but it still is! ItMe is incredible.

🔔 I didn’t expect @uneasytiger’s Babalu to make me cry happy tears, but like. I’m a sucker for weddings. And at the same time, I am wildly worried for Luisa because um??? Why are we lying to the boyfriend??? And I know why, it’s because family habits are hard to break. Lu’s impulsive carelessness with her life is just a lot like her mother, isn’t it? Man, what a good show.

🌃 The show @dustwalkerpod is new, and when I heard JD Hampton-VanSant was starring, I was PSYCHED, because I love her work, she’s awesome. I was not disappointed. DustWalker presents a complex and layered urban fantasy/cyberpunk city in the thrall of a theocracy with a protagonist who’s complicated, fascinating, too young for all this, and not nice at all. I already love Kove.

🇳🇬 All right, now time for some education. Fela Kuti: Fear No Man is not an audio drama, it’s a nonfiction narrative podcast about the life and times of history’s most famous Nigerian performer, the inventor of Afrobeat, Fela Kuti. The reason I bring it up here is that it is an absolute masterclass in sound design and storytelling. If you want to learn something new about how stories of all kinds can work, new ways to use sound design, or Nigeria, music history, politics, colonialism, or the man himself, listen to this podcast. Listen even if you don’t want to learn, it rules.